PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth and state police were converging on Peirce Island Friday night in connection with the investigation into the disappearance of University of New Hampshire student Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott.

The 19-year-old, who is a commuter student living in Chester, was last seen on Tuesday, and was believed to be headed to Dover to see friends before she went missing.

Police were not letting anyone near the bridge that leads to Peirce Island and nearby Prescott Park was cordoned off with yellow police tape.

News crews massed at the scene, with both print and television representatives converging. TV vans from the Boston area as well WMUR were there Friday night.

Television stations from both New Hampshire and Massachusetts were reporting police were in a recovery mode expecting to recover a body.

Doug Mulford, an employee at Mombo, a restaurant across the street from Prescott Park, said police showed up at about 7:30 p.m. and began taping off the area. About six police cruisers and a trained dog were at the scene, he said.

“Some of us went out to see what was going on, and one of the officers just said, 'Prescott Park's going to be closed for a while,'” Mulford said.

State police and FBI agents joined the search for Marriott on Friday. She had not made contact with friends or family since Tuesday, Oct. 9.

Police from UNH, Dover, and Chester, are participating in the search, as well as authorities in Marriott's hometown of Westborough, Mass.

Marriott's family is also offering a $10,000 reward for information pertaining to her whereabouts, according to a flier regarding her disappearance.

Outside a blockade at Marcy and Hancock streets Friday night, Rebecca Tyning, of Beverly, Mass., identified herself as Marriott's maternal aunt. She said the family was very worried about her niece and Tyning rushed to Portsmouth when a news outlet contacted her for comment on the Peirce Island activity.

Tyning said she did not want to worry Lizzi's mother by calling her now with no confirmed reports that a body had been recovered.

“At this point we're expecting the worst,” she said. “This looks like it's not good.”

K9 units arrived on scene as Tyning asked reporters to direct the public to the Help Find Lizzi Marriott Facebook page, as well as FindLizzi.com, FindLizzie.com and FindLizzy.com. She said the family bought all web domains to clarify the search.

At a brief press conference around 5:30 p.m. Friday, New Hampshire Associate Attorney General Jane Young said investigators were still trying to be optimistic in the ongoing search to locate Marriott. “At this point I would stress this is a missing person investigation,” she said in front of the Chester Police Department. “We are not losing hope in this case.”

Young also cautioned the public not to look too far into the fact a legion of FBI agents and state and local investigators were working on the case. “I wouldn't read anything dire into the fact we're here,” she said. “We have a missing student from UNH and when we can tap state, federal, and local resources we can increase manpower significantly.”

Although authorities haven't narrowed their search to a specific location, Young said investigators had launched searches from the sea, land and sky in attempts to locate Marriott. “We're fanning out trying to get as much information as possible,” she said.

The last known communication from Marriott was a text message sent from her phone to a friend just before 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to Chester Police Chief William Burke. Marriott composed the message while in class at UNH's campus in Durham, Burke said.

Marriott was residing with her aunt and uncle in Chester and commuting to UNH before her disappearance.

Police have informed Marriott's family that the recipient of the text message was one of Marriott's female friends in Westborough, according to uncle Anthony Hanna.

Marriott told her friend she was leaving UNH at 9 p.m. and heading to the home of another female friend in Dover, but never arrived, Hanna said.

On Friday evening, a Dover Police Department crime scene investigation van and two police cruisers were seen parked outside an apartment on Mill Street. Residents said police had been there for most of the day, and had spent time looking around a nearby dumpster.

Police at the scene declined to comment on what they were searching for in the area.

Hanna said Marriott's phone sent two more transmissions on Tuesday evening: one at about 9:30 p.m., and another at about 10:10 p.m. The last reached a cell phone tower in Dover.

Marriott failed to show up for work at the Target in Greenland, N.H., on Wednesday, and has not attended UNH classes since Tuesday. The last update on her Facebook page was sent via mobile device on Monday, Oct. 8.

Hanna said there has been no activity in Marriott's bank accounts since Tuesday, and her car has not been located. Marriott was driving a 2001 tan colored Mazda Tribute with a New Hampshire license plate 3045397. The car was not found at UNH, Hanna said.

Family members have called around to local hospitals, but none have reported any contact with Marriott, Hanna said.

“At this point we're actively trying to find the car, find her, and hoping that everything comes out positive,” he said.

Marriott is 5 feet 5 inches tall, and weighs about 130 pounds. She has blond hair and blue eyes.

Marriott was studying marine biology, according to her uncle. She attended Manchester Community College her freshman year before transferring to UNH this year. She was living with Hanna this year and commuting to save money, he said.

Marriott had volunteered as a guide at the New England Aquarium in Boston for the last four years, according to aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse. She started working there in January 2009 as part of the aquarium's “World of Water” training program for teenagers. LaCasse said she became knowledgeable about the aquarium and worked her way up to guiding tour groups faster than most people her age.

As a high school student, Marriott spent Saturdays volunteering at the aquarium, and continued to work there through August of this year, donating an estimated 400 hours of volunteer work to the organization, LaCasse said.

“Everybody described her as very consistent, very reliable,” he said. “Just, you know, very steady.”

Hanna described his niece as an “all-around nice kid,” who was quiet and loved to read.

“She's a very nice person,” he said. “She's a very pretty girl, which is — she's also, I would say, a little bit young and naive. When you're at that age, life is great and everyone's your friend. She's a very trusting person. But (she has) a good outlook on life.”

Young asked anyone with information that could help in the case call state police at 603-271-3636.

Democrat Staff Writers Oliver Jenkins and Samantha Allen and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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